Berger doesn’t let facts stop his HB2 fantasies

Leader of NC Senate opposes repealing HB2

In a press conference Wednesday, April 20, 2016, President Pro Tempore of the NC Senate Phil Berger says he opposes repealing the 'bathroom safety bill', also know as HB2. Berger also said his job is "not to give in to the demands of multi-millio

By

Up Next

In a press conference Wednesday, April 20, 2016, President Pro Tempore of the NC Senate Phil Berger says he opposes repealing the 'bathroom safety bill', also know as HB2. Berger also said his job is "not to give in to the demands of multi-millio

By

The following editorial appeared in the Fayetteville Observer:

Phil Berger ought to be ashamed. But we doubt that he is. Playing to people’s worst fears and prejudices is working out pretty well for him. Why stop now?

The state Senate leader jumped on a story from Charlotte last week, about a woman who went into a restaurant bathroom and found a man in the next stall, apparently doing lewd things. She and her husband alerted building security officers and the man was later arrested and charged with indecent exposure.

That should have been the end of the story, and it would have been, save for resolution of the case in court.

Digital Access for only $0.99

But Berger had his press aide launch a release that said this is the kind of behavior Attorney General Roy Cooper and Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts are encouraging by opposing House Bill 2 and by backing measures that would let transgender people use the restrooms of their choice.

Never mind that the man in the stall was dressed in running shoes, shorts and a T-shirt, was clearly living his life as a male, was definitely not transgender and was arrested under the appropriate statute.

But, hey, what are a few little details when you can rile people up – and gain support for a misbegotten law – by pandering to irrational fears and ignorance?